Docs / Obsidian Mail Client / Mail

Organizing your mail

Delete, archive and move

All of these work on several messages at once: select them with Ctrl or Shift first.

Folders

The Folder tab works on the folder that is open:

• New Folder makes a folder at the top of the account; New Subfolder makes one inside the open folder.
• Rename Folder and Delete Folder work on folders you made (not on Inbox, Sent and the other standard folders).
• Mark All as Read marks every message in the folder read.
• Empty Folder permanently deletes everything in Junk, Deleted Items or Quarantine, after asking. File > Info > Mailbox Settings offers the same for Deleted Items and Junk Email.

Right-click a folder in the folder pane for the same commands.

Favorites and All Inboxes

Folders you use most can sit at the top of the folder pane, under Favorites. Right-click a folder and choose Add to Favorites, or use Folder > Show in Favorites.

With more than one account, Folder > All Inboxes adds one list with every account's Inbox to Favorites.

Read and unread

Opening a message marks it read. To change that by hand, press Ctrl+Q (read) or Ctrl+U (unread), or click Home > Unread/Read.

Conversations

View > Show as Conversations (Ctrl+T) groups a message with its replies. In the list, a conversation shows how many messages it has; press Right to open it and see its messages, and Left to close it. Sorting is off while conversations are on.

Flags

Press Insert, or click Home > Follow Up, to flag a message or clear its flag. Flagged mail also shows in To Do > Flagged email and in Search Folders > Flagged.

Color categories

Categories are colored labels you can give any message, as in Outlook.

• Home > Categorize shows your categories; click one to put it on the selected messages, or take it off.
• Clear All Categories takes them all off.
• All Categories… opens Color Categories, where you make, rename and delete categories, pick each one's color (Outlook's 25 colors) and give it a shortcut key, Ctrl+F2 to Ctrl+F12.

Renaming or deleting a category changes it on every message that has it.

Where categories are kept depends on the account:

• Outlook.com and Microsoft 365 accounts: the first time, Color Categories offers Share them with Outlook. Click Allow… and sign in once in your browser. From then on your categories show in Outlook on the web and on your phone, and Outlook's show here.
• Exchange and Obsidian accounts: shared with the server, so they show on your other devices too.
• Gmail and other IMAP accounts: kept on this computer only.

Snooze

Snooze puts a message away until you are ready for it. It comes back unread, at the top of its folder, with a notification.

1. Select one or more messages.
2. Click Home > Snooze (or right-click and choose Snooze).
3. Choose Later today, Tomorrow, This weekend or Next week (the times are shown), or Choose a date….

While snoozed, the message waits in a Snoozed folder in its account. The app brings it back, so it needs to be running at that time; if it isn't, the message comes back as soon as the app starts.

Quick Steps

A Quick Step runs several actions with one click, for example "mark as read, then archive".

• Home > Quick Steps lists them. Two come ready-made: Done (mark as read and archive) and Reply & Delete.
• Ctrl+Shift+1 to Ctrl+Shift+9 run the first nine.
• New Quick Step… makes one: give it a Name, then add actions with Add action: mark as read or unread, flag or clear the flag, categorize or clear categories, reply, reply all, forward, move to a folder, archive or delete.
• Manage Quick Steps… lets you edit or delete them.

The actions run in a sensible order: flags and categories first, then replies and forwards, then the one that moves the message away. A Quick Step can have only one action that moves, archives or deletes.

Unsubscribe and Sweep

Unsubscribe

When a message comes from a mailing list, an Unsubscribe button shows above it (and on Home > Unsubscribe). Click it and confirm. The app uses the best way the sender offers: a one-click request, an email to the list, or the list's own web page in your browser. It's never offered for spam: unsubscribing from spam only tells the sender your address works.

After unsubscribing, the app offers to sweep out the mail you already have from that sender.

Sweep

Home > Sweep clears out one sender's mail. Select a message from that sender, click Sweep, and choose:

• All messages from this sender in the open folder,
• All of them, and any that arrive later,
• Always keep the latest message, and clear the rest, or
• Always clear messages older than a number of days.

Then choose What to do with them: delete them (to Deleted Items), archive them, or move them to a folder, and click Sweep.

The last two choices keep working after every sync. They're listed under Sweeps in File > Options > Rules, where you can remove them.